Lewis & Betty Nolan in Kinsale

Coastal Town is South of Cork

Our
third trip to Ireland to try yet again to penetrate the mist surrounding the
lives of my great grandfather, John Nolan, and John's family in the Emerald
Isle was in June, 1997. As with the trips in 1986 and 1991, my wife, Betty, was
with me. Our son, Casey, had graduated from college the previous month and his
idea of a celebration did not embrace accompanying Mom and Dad to Ireland. So
while we were in Ireland, he did the late 20th Century version of the Grand
Tour on the Continent, on the cheap with friends.

I
was fresh from the relaxation that followed my decision earlier in the year to
retire early from the corporate world. (Faced with rising blood pressure, I had
left Guardsmark, Inc., in February, 1997, where I had served as Vice President
Communications and Government Affairs since shortly after accepting an early
retirement offer from Schering-Plough in mid-1996).

I
was happily in good health at age 54 and was eagerly anticipating a
breakthrough in my decade-long search for some hard evidence that John Nolan
had indeed lived in Ballinasloe, County Galway, in the west central part of
Ireland before emigrating to America in 1843. With some welcome free time on my
hands due to my retirement (cut into by some occasional consulting for
Guardsmark, which lasted until late 1998) I had been able to prepare for this
trip much more thoroughly than for our trips to Ireland in 1986 and 1991. Those
trips were covered in my earlier book, "Nolan-Family History," which
was printed shortly before the 1997 trip commenced.

This
time, the itinerary called for a visit to County Carlow on the eastern side of

Ireland, in the southeast section known as Leinster. It included a
semi-circular driving tour around the Southeast and Southwest coasts as well as
a return to Ballinasloe to the north, in the central part of Ireland roughly
midway between Dublin and Galway. We had wanted to visit places we had never
seen before, including Waterford, the wild and windy Dingle Peninsula, Donegal
and Northern Ireland. With the rising interest in Ireland - and also in the
U.S. - about the Great Famine of the 1840s, I had also wanted to spend some
time at the Famine Museum in Strokestown and some other grim reminders of the
cruel treatment of the Irish by their former English masters.

Carlow was the
ancient home of the Nolan "sept," an Irish term denoting a tribal
unit combining government and kinship. Three centuries ago, the Cromwellian
horrors pushed the rebellious Irish off their land and to the rocky terrain of
Connaught in western Ireland. The sparsely populated County Carlow is in
Leinster, south of Dublin.

Unlike our
previous trips - that had us flying out of Delta's hub in Atlanta in 1986
andAmerican's hub in Dallas in 1991 -
this time we had a direct flight from Memphis to Europe due to the alliance
between Northwest Airlines and KLM, the Dutch airline. Huge KLM jets fly
nonstop from Memphis to Amsterdam's gigantic Schipol Airport several times a week.

I had flown
business class on KLM the previous August while traveling from Memphis to
Germany on behalf of Guardsmark; I liked the KLM service well enough to take
the overnight flight again, requiring a connection in Amsterdam to Dublin.
However, I soon found out that KLM has far less gracious standards of service
for its economy class passengers. Besides, I've never much liked Dublin. We'll
probably be back on Delta next time, which will put us into and out of Shannon
Airport on the beautiful West Coast rather than dingy Dublin and its confusing
traffic.

As
with earlier trips, Betty and I kept travel journals. I recorded my research
findings (even when the findings are negative, you learn something) and both of
us noted our impressions of the people and places we visited. Those entries
follow:

Wednesday, June 11, 1997 - From Memphis to Dublin, Lewis -

One
of Betty's friends - the terrific Betty Hoffman who has cheerfully provided us airport transportation at odd hours for many years - drove us to Memphis International Airport at 6 p.m. to start
our long-awaited return to Ireland. The trip was our "graduation
present" to ourselves. It marked our son Casey's graduation from the
University of Virginia May 18 and the end of our paying for his out-of-state tuition
and college expenses. His graduation present was a trip to Europe; he is there
now with two college pals, staying in hostels and cheap hotels while traveling
around with Eurorail passes from London-Paris via the Chunnel, Barcelona, Rome,
Corfu, Athens, Budapest, Prague and Amsterdam.

We
had invited Casey to join us in Ireland, but are doubtful that we'll see him
until we return home June 26. He flies back to Washington June 18 and will
drive to Memphis two days later for a short visit. He has to quickly return to
Charlottesville to move his gear to an apartment near Bethesda, Md., where he
starts work as an Office Engineer at Clark Construction June 30. (Casey was later
transferred to Palm Springs, Calif., in 1998 to help build a stadium tennis
complex).

As
we head towards Ireland, we have some mixed feelings. Betty and I are taking
our first major vacation by ourselves since Casey's birth 22 years ago. This is
our third trip to the Emerald Isle and having him along added much to the fun to
our trips, including our vacations in Ireland in 1986 and in 1991. That was
especially the case on the last one, when Casey and I enjoyed sharing the
experience of playing golf on some of the finest courses in the world -
Ballybunion, Killarney and Waterville.

Nonetheless,
Betty and I have been eagerly anticipating this trip as in a way it is a new
beginning for us "empty nesters." Our chick has flown the nest but
I'm looking forward to playing some new courses, even if by myself. I'm
carrying my clubs along, with a dozen TopFlite Magna balls. Betty and I have
become experienced international travelers as we are now on our fourth trip to
Europe and have also been to Mexico and the Caribbean Islands several times. We
have learned to pack light, except for the mandatory golf clubs. I'm not even
taking a necktie this time since I've learned how casual the Irish are -
sometimes to the point of being surprisingly scruffy given the penchant of many
Irish Americans to be dapper dressers.

Arriving
at the Memphis airport, we found that check-in was the usual mess. A group of
Arabs also bound for the KLM direct flight to Amsterdam had way too many bags,
weighing way too much. Another group of Arabs was accompanying a youngish male
companion who was laid out on a push-bed, paralyzed and possibly returning home
following treatment in one of Memphis' renowned medical facilities. KLM's beefy
attendants rigged up a cot of sorts for him on the plane, requiring the space
of eight seats.

The flight was
a little late getting off the ground due to overbooking and it was completely
full. I was tempted to go for the offered $750 flight vouchers in return for
traveling the next day, but decided to stick with what we had. It was just
before 9 p.m. when we took off for the 4,500-mile trip and we expected to be in
the air for 8 hours and 23 minutes. I know I'll be like a caged bear by the
time we get to Amsterdam at noon local time tomorrow for a connecting Aer
Lingus flight to Dublin. I brought some muscle relaxers with me and will take
one with some wine after dinner to help me sleep. The combination, recommended
by a pharmacist we deal with, worked like a charm on my last flights to and
from Amsterdam.

Thursday, June 12, 1997 - Over the Atlantic Ocean, Lewis -

Sleep
on the overnight KLM flight was fitfull at best. We were crammed into the
seats, with sub-minimal spacing for both width and pitch. It's almost criminal
what the airlines are doing to maximize their load yield, and thus their
profits, at the expense of passenger comfort and safety. In an emergency, most
people would not be able to extricate themselves from their seats.

One of the KLM
attendants got huffy with me when I asked for a refill of a cup of water,
saying that if every passenger did so she would not be able to serve everybody.
Another lesson learned: Bring your own bottle of water, along with some peanuts
or other snacks. Today's crowded flights, compounded by understaffing, mean you
can't depend on the level of service enjoyed only a few years ago. On the
positive side, the fact that so many Americans are traveling points to the
benefits of a strong economy.